My Wildflowers!!

So back when I was in high school and college, my mom would plant wild flowers around our property.  I always LOVED the look of them.  So with my own house now, I've realized I have the power to plant anything I want.  Bo has his garden, but I really didn't have anything, plus, to be honest, I don't really have much of a green thumb, and next to no experience with landscaping and flower arrangement. 

We have this patch of dirt on one side of our house that used to have some flowers that died, and a bunch of weeds.  With a lot of pulling, hoeing, and shoveling, I cleared that spot away and prepared it for my wild flower seeds, because well, how hard could WILD flowers be to kill with my lack of plant skills? And wild flowers don't need any sort of special arrangement.  A match made in heaven, that's what I think.

I am pleased to say that they survived!  They survived me, the draught, my kids, and everything else.  I am in LOVE with them.  I go out and look at them every day, sometimes a couple of times.  They are just sooo pretty!  This will definitely be a repeat for me.

It's okay to be proud of me.  :) 

So many firsts!

He started first grade, he lost his first tooth, and now Carter can ride a bike with out training wheels!!!  He's so proud of himself!  So are we.

He has been begging all.summer.long to have me take off the training wheels, but I kept delaying it because I wanted Bo to teach him.  I strongly feel that that is something a dad should teach their kids.  I don't know, it just seems like a fun memory he should have, you know... "my dad taught me to ride my bike."  Anyways...

Bo finally got around to taking off his training wheels on Monday, and Carter just took off.  He didn't need practice runs with dad behind him.  Bo held him up, took a couple steps with him, all the while Carter protesting he didn't need Bo's help, so Bo let go.  Sure enough, he didn't need the help.  I don't know why we were surprised, my kids have always had excellent coordination and balance.  My kids might not be the first to speak, or learn their ABC's, but they are always the first at jumping, running, and throwing.  hhahaaa.  It's true.

Our little Carter bug is growing up so fast.  He needs to slow down so that Megs and Derrick can have a chance in the spotlight!

 

Zoo time!

A friend and I took our kids to the zoo last week.  With school now going on, the zoo was nice and crowd less. Oh, how I hate crowds!  It's amazing how much happier I can be when I don't have to battle people or deal with too much noise. haha.  We enjoyed a nice day of looking at the animals for as long as we wanted, and it was just so peaceful and pleasant.  You can even see a difference in the kids!  With the nice weather, I am now making weekly trips to the zoo, and my kids are loving it.  Anyways, here are some fun pics of the day.  The last one is of Derrick saying "cheese" which he just now is picking up.  I love that kid!

 

Toothless

Carter lost his first tooth on Aug 5th!!

He was, and still is, so excited about it.  It had been loose for a week or so, and then that morning, biting into some banana bread of all things, he exclaimed that he heard a "pop" and that it hurt.  I checked it out, and thing was almost out, so I just kinda put my nail against it to look at it and bent it out.  Just like that.  He didn't wince or anything.

He had to call all his grandparents to share the exciting news. That night he wrote a letter asking the tooth fairy if he could keep the tooth, and then put the tooth in a baggie under his pillow. :)

The tooth fairy was a  softie and decided to let him keep it, along with giving him two quarters. hahaa.  He was so excited.  Of course the next night, since he still had the tooth, he wanted to try putting it under his pillow again. Sneaky boy.  I told him the tooth fairy would probably get mad at him and decide to take back the money and tooth. hahahaa. 

So here are some pictures of my proud, sorta-lisp talking, first grader!

 

First Day of School!

I think I thought that if I postponed blogging this, then it wouldn't really be real.  Unfortunately, it didn't work.

Carter started FIRST GRADE on August first.  First grade!!!  Ahhhhh! Can my baby really be that old?  (Him being old without me aging a day...)

Carter has been looking forward to "all day" school pretty much all summer.  I mean, if you asked him if he'd rather stay home, sure he'd say yes, but given the choice of half day school, like last year, or all day like this year, he's been pretty pumped for the full day.  He was excited for recess, lunch, PE, music, art, more recess.... And it hasn't been a disappointment either.  He is loving it all!

He really likes his teacher, and so far has been coming home with good grades on his papers and excellent behavior in class.  With my little charmer, I've never doubted him being a good student. 

Anyways, here are some pictures of him waiting for the bus. 

Oh, Carter, we are so proud of you!!  Please, just please, don't grow up too fast.  Please also know that the house seems super quiet and empty with you gone.  You are missed!

 Carter and Joe.  They are buddies.  Joe lives right across the street from us.  They were in Kindergarten together, and have lucked out with being in the same First Grade class too.



The group of parents waiving goodbye....and possibly celebrating.  hahhahaaa.

T-Ball

Carter did T-Ball this summer for the first time.  He loved it.  It helped that he was on the same team as 3 of his friends. 

He did pretty good, most of the time he could hit the ball without the tee.  His favorite part about the whole T-Ball thing was the hat and the trophy. :)  He seriously wears the hat as much as possible, and he's already broken the trophy due to taking around with him everywhere he goes.  Don't worry, I can super glue it back together.  I've got mad skills like that.

Now we're just waiting for Soccer to start!

GO CARTER!!!!

Pioneer Day!

For Pioneer Day this year a bunch of us girls from the ward got together with our kids to celebrate at a park nearby.  Thanks Alisha for organizing it all!

The kids had a bike parade, they played Red Rover, Red Rover, some Fruit Game (kinda like musical chairs but without music), and then they had a three legged race.  After the games they all made these cute "covered wagons" out of treats, and then it was Popsicles and playtime on the park toys.

It was a fun day, I just wish Bo had been home to celebrate with us.  I tried telling my kids why we celebrated Pioneer Day, and I'm sure Carter was the only one to get anything out of it, and even then it wasn't much.  hahaha.  oh well. I tried.

Oh yeah, my kids (meaning ME :) ) won a prize for having the most festive bikes.  Boo Yeah!

Yes, yes, I know I need to blog.  I've got a t-ball post to write, my birthday post, and, of course, Carter's first day of school to post.  BUT the computer is downstairs and the Olympics are upstairs (we ditched cable awhile back and are having to use the antennae which is on the tv upstairs).  You can imagine my dilemma.

I wonder which one won out.

Go USA!!